Welcome to ‘The Deconstruction,’ a Competitive Sport for Makers

The Deconstruction is a two-day DIY competition open to anyone, anywhere. Image: Jason Naumoff

There was a time when skateboarding and snowboarding were counter-cultural activities, but today Shaun White is a gold medalist, and Jason Naumoff is one of the big reasons why. Now, the former X-Games maven is trying to turn “making” into a friendly, collaborative sport with his globe-spanning, 48-hour, free-to-enter build-off called “The Deconstruction,” happening this weekend.

Naumoff got his start developing extreme events for ESPN and writes “I learned a tremendous amount during that period about how events work, and how to bring people together. I’d really like to take that knowledge and move toward doing more social projects like this in the future.” He describes the Deconstruction as “a participatory space to collaborate and create things. Not an event, but a light-hearted situation that allows awesome things to happen.”

In the event, participating teams will choose a subject that can be “deconstructed” in the broadest sense of the word. Teams could deconstruct film and experiment with art form, or deconstruct energy by exploring the potential of pedal-powered gadgets. Naumoff says the only requirement is that projects must be “awesome.”

The projects aren’t strictly defined, but the requirements for documentation are. Each team will have their own page on the Deconstruction site. They must set up a video stream using a service like Justin.tv or Ustream and embed that on the page, allowing fans to follow their progress. Followers can ask questions, suggest ideas, or cheer their teams on in real time using a chat widget. “Documentation is a big priority with this project,” says Naumoff. “People make this amazing stuff you see online. It all works perfectly and is amazing, but there is rarely the documentation on what makes it work. We set it up so people are documenting the process of creating.”

Judging creative projects that could range from a recipe created in a kitchen to a solar-powered water pump built in a hackerspace will be difficult, but Naumoff and his team are up for the challenge. “It’s going to be conceptually based,” says Naumoff. “We’ll look at what the overall concept being deconstructed, what was remixed, and rethought. It’s also about creating the greatest thing for the least amount of money. There will be a matrix scale between awesome/not awesome and expensive/non-expensive.”

Even for those not participating there will be an engaging spectator experience. 12 people are working on producing the event’s geographically diverse multicast, being coordinated Synergize Studios, a professional video production firm in San Francisco. Naumoff’s group will be interacting with the teams in real time, but there will be no banal play-by-play announcement. “Its not sports commentary at all,” says Naumoff. “The live show side of it is a collaborative talk show. The streaming is there as a device to connect people. We’re going to encourage the teams to connect and collaborate with other teams and spectators.”

“We’re trying to create an event that anyone can participate in,” says Naumoff. “You see these really brilliant people that are creating these lofty things, but anyone can do it, they just need to push themselves. Our big priority is to let people know you don’t need a Ph.d. in mechanical engineering or physics or be a well known filmmaker to make great things.”

New teams can continue to register and participate throughout the weekend, while the event is live. So far 50 teams have signed up on six continents, but there is still room for a team from Antarctica.